Jia Nanfeng (賈南風) (257–300), nickname Shi (時), was a Chinese
Empress consort. She was the daughter of
Jia Chong and first wife of
Emperor Hui of the Jin
DynastyDynasty (265–420) and also the granddaughter
of Jia Kui. She is commonly seen as a villainous figure in Chinese
history, as the person who provoked the War of the Eight Princes,
leading to the Wu Hu rebellions and the Jin family's loss of northern
and central China.

Contents

1 Early life and marriage
2 As empress

2.1 Role in coups against Yang Jun and Sima Liang
2.2 As paramount authority

3 Downfall and death
4 References

Early life and marriage[edit]
Jia Nanfeng was born in 257 to the Jin official
Jia Chong and his
second wife Guo Huai (郭槐). She was their oldest daughter, although
Jia Chong had two daughters from his previous marriage to Lady Li. The
couple had another daughter, Jia Wu (賈午), in 260. They also had
two sons, both of whom died young.
In 271, Jia's father desperately wanted to avoid an assignment to lead
an army against the
XianbeiXianbei rebel Tufa Shujineng (禿髮樹機能), so
he decided to have either Jia or her younger sister marry the
developmentally disabled crown prince, Sima Zhong. The emperor
initially rejected the idea, as he preferred Wei Guan's daughter as a
bride for the crown prince. Indeed, Emperor Wu argued:

“

There are five reasons why Duke Wei's daughter is appropriate, and
there are five reasons why Duke Jia's daughter is inappropriate. The
Wei family are known for producing male children, and Lady Wei is
mild-tempered, beautiful, tall, and fair-skinned. The Jia family lacks
male children, and Lady Jia is jealous, ugly, short, and dark-skinned.

”

However, Guo Huai was on friendly terms with Empress Yang Yan, whose
associates all greatly praised Jia's daughters. Eventually, Emperor Wu
agreed, but selected Jia Wu to marry Crown Prince Zhong. When Wu was
to wear formal dress to be examined, however, she was too young and
too short for the dress, so
Jia Nanfeng was chosen. They married in
272, and she was created crown princess. She was 14, and he was 12.
She became quickly known for her jealousy, but she established a
relationship with the crown prince where he both loved and feared her.
For the rest of her life, she would have him firmly in her control.
When several of his concubines became pregnant, she killed them
herself in fits of jealousy; Emperor Wu was going to depose her, and
only intercession by his second wife
Empress Yang Zhi (Empress Yang
Yan's cousin, whom he married after her death) led to Crown Princess
Jia's being spared. When, on one occasion, Wei hinted to Emperor Wu
that Crown Prince Zhong was so unintelligent as to be an inappropriate
heir, it was Crown Princess Jia who thought of the solution to Emperor
Wu's subsequent inquiries of Crown Prince Zhong—having someone else
write simple but correct answers to the inquiries, so that Emperor Wu
was impressed.
Crown Princess Jia bore her husband four daughters—the Princesses
Hedong, Linhai, and Shiping, as well as one daughter who died early
and was given the posthumous name Aixian. However, she would not bear
him a son; his only son
Sima Yu was borne by Consort Xie Jiu, who was
initially a concubine of Emperor Wu but given to Crown Prince Zhong
shortly before his marriage to Crown Princess Jia, so that she could
teach him how to have sexual relations. As the years went on and Crown
Princess Jia bore no sons, she became jealous of Consort Xie and
Prince Yu, but took no decisive actions against them at this point,
because Emperor Wu greatly favored Prince Yu.
When Emperor Wu died in 290, Crown Prince Zhong ascended the throne as
Emperor Hui. Crown Princess Jia was created empress that year.
As empress[edit]
Role in coups against Yang Jun and Sima Liang[edit]
Empress Dowager Yang's father Yang Jun initially served as Emperor
Hui's regent. Knowing Empress Jia to be treacherous, he set up a
system where edicts signed by Emperor Hui had to be co-signed by
Empress Dowager Yang as well, to prevent Empress Jia from interfering.
For a while, her influence was limited to matters inside the
palace—and after her stepson Prince Yu was created crown prince, she
often blocked Consort Xie from having access to her son.
Empress Jia was not happy about having little input in governance,
however. She therefore conspired with the eunuch Dong Meng (董猛)
and the generals Meng Guan (孟觀) and Li Zhao (李肇) against the
Yangs. She tried to include Emperor Hui's granduncle Sima Liang, the
most respected of the imperial princes, into the conspiracy, but Sima
Liang declined; instead, she persuaded Emperor Hui's brother, Sima Wei
the Prince of Chu, to join her plan. In 291, after
Sima WeiSima Wei returned
to
LuoyangLuoyang from his defense post (Jing Province (荊州, modern Hubei
and Hunan)) with his troops, a coup went into progress.
Empress Jia, who had her husband easily under her control, had him
issue an edict declaring that Yang Jun had committed crimes and should
be removed from his posts. It also ordered
Sima WeiSima Wei and Sima Yao
(司馬繇) the Duke of Dong'an to attack Yang's forces and defend
against counterattacks. Quickly, it became clear that Yang was in
trouble. Empress Dowager Yang, trapped in the palace herself, wrote an
edict ordering assistance for Yang Jun and put it on arrows, shooting
it out of the palace. Empress Jia then made the bold declaration that
Empress Dowager Yang was committing treason. Yang Jun was quickly
defeated, and his clan was massacred. Empress Dowager Yang was deposed
and imprisoned (and would die in 292 in imprisonment).
Sima LiangSima Liang was
recalled to serve as regent, along with Wei Guan.
Sima LiangSima Liang and Wei tried to get the government on track, but Empress
Jia continued to interfere with governmental matters. They also became
concerned about the violent temper of
Sima WeiSima Wei and therefore tried to
strip him of his military command, but
Sima WeiSima Wei persuaded Empress Jia
to let him keep his military command. Sima Wei's assistants Qi Sheng
(岐盛) and Gongsun Hong (公孫宏) thereafter falsely told Empress
Jia that
Sima LiangSima Liang and Wei planned to depose the emperor. Empress
Jia, who had already resented Wei for having, during Emperor Wu's
reign, suggested that he change his heir selection, also wanted more
direct control over the government, and therefore resolved to undergo
a second coup.
In the summer of 291, Empress Jia had Emperor Hui personally write an
edict to Sima Wei, ordering him to have
Sima LiangSima Liang and Wei removed
from their offices. His forces thereby surrounded
Sima LiangSima Liang and Wei's
mansions, and while both men's subordinates recommended resistance,
each declined and was captured. Against what the edict said, both were
killed—
Sima LiangSima Liang with his heir Sima Ju (司馬矩) and Wei with
nine of his sons and grandsons. Qi then suggested to
Sima WeiSima Wei to take
the chance to kill Empress Jia's relatives and take over the
government, but
Sima WeiSima Wei hesitated—and at the same time, Empress Jia
came to the realization that killing
Sima LiangSima Liang and Wei, if it had
been realized that she intended it, could bring a political firestorm
and that also
Sima WeiSima Wei would not be easily controlled. She therefore
publicly declared that
Sima WeiSima Wei had falsely issued the edict. Sima
Wei's troops abandoned him, and he was captured and executed. Sima
Liang and Wei were posthumously honored. However, after this point on,
Empress Jia became the undisputed power behind the throne for several
years.
As paramount authority[edit]
Empress Jia was now in control in close association with several
advisors that she trusted—the capable official Zhang Hua, her
cousins Pei Wei (裴頠) and Jia Mo (賈模), and her nephew Jia Mi
(賈謐—originally named Han Mi but posthumously adopted into the
line of Jia Chong's son Jia Limin (賈黎民)). She also closely
associated with her cousin-once-removed Guo Zhang (郭彰), her sister
Jia Wu (賈午), and Emperor Wu's concubine Zhao Chan (趙粲). She
lacked self-control, and was violent and capricious in her ways, but
Zhang, Pei, and Jia Mo were honest men who generally kept the
government in order. However, as she grew increasingly unbridled in
her behavior (including committing adultery with many men and later
murdering them to silence them), Zhang, Pei, and Jia Mo considered
deposing her and replacing her with Crown Prince Yu's mother Consort
Xie, but they hesitated and never took actual action. After Jia Mo
died in 299, it became even harder to control her actions.
Downfall and death[edit]
The relationship between Empress Jia and Crown Prince Yu had always
been an uneasy one. Empress Jia's mother Guo Huai (郭槐) had
constantly advised Empress Jia to treat Crown Prince Yu well, as her
own son, and she advocated marrying Jia Mi's sister to Crown Prince
Yu. However, Empress Jia and Jia Wu opposed this, and instead married
a daughter of the official Wang Yan (王衍) to Crown Prince Yu. (Wang
had two daughters, but Empress Jia had Crown Prince Yu marry the less
beautiful one and had Jia Mi marry the more beautiful one.) After Lady
Guo's death, the relationship between Empress Jia and Crown Prince Yu
quickly deteriorated, as Jia Wu and Consort Zhao provoked difficulties
between them. At one point, Empress Jia falsely claimed herself to be
pregnant and planned to falsely claim her nephew Han Weizu (韓慰祖,
Jia Wu's son with her husband Han Shou (韓壽)) to be her own, but
for reasons unknown did not actually carry out that plan. Further,
Crown Prince Yu and Jia Mi never liked each other, and Jia Mi, as a
result, also advised Empress Jia to depose Crown Prince Yu.
In 299, Empress Jia agreed and took action. When Crown Prince Yu was
in the palace to make an official petition to have his ill son Sima
Bin (司馬彬) created a prince, Empress Jia forced him to drink a
large amount of wine and, once he was drunk, had him write out a
statement in which he declared intention to murder the emperor and the
empress and to take over as emperor. Empress Jia presented the writing
to the officials and initially wanted Crown Prince Yu executed—but
after some resistance, she only had him deposed and reduced to status
of a commoner. Crown Prince Yu's mother Consort Xie was executed, as
was his favorite concubine Consort Jiang Jun (蔣俊).
In 300, under the advice of a prince she favored --
Sima LunSima Lun the
Prince of Zhao, Emperor Wu's granduncle—Empress Jia decided to
eliminate Crown Prince Yu as a threat. She sent assassins and had
Crown Prince Yu assassinated. Sima Lun, however, had other plans—he
wanted to have Empress Jia murder the crown prince so that he could
use the murder as an excuse to overthrow her, and he started a coup
later that year, killing Jia Mi, Zhang, Pei, and other associates of
Empress Jia. Empress Jia was deposed and later forced to commit
suicide by drinking "jinxiaojiu" 金屑酒 "wine with gold fragments"
(Needham and Ho 1970: 326)..
References[edit]